Back in 2014, the world looked on in stunned horror as intimate photos of dozens of young actresses and models were posted online without the women’s consent.
The massive data breach was eventually affixed with a flippant moniker – The Fappening – but there was nothing funny about the waking nightmare endured by Jennifer Lawrence, Kaley Cuoco, and Kate Upton, and numerous young stars.
The massive hack of Apple’s iCloud storage service first began to garner attention when nude photos of Lawrence appeared on the image-sharing site 4Chan.
A data dump that’s frighteningly reminiscent of that scandal is currently taking place on the same site, this time involving actresses Emma Watson and Amanda Seyfried.
According to Buzzfeed, stolen photos of both women began to appear on 4Chan message boards late Tuesday night.
The site describes the images as ranging from “tame selfies to explicitly sexual photos.”
In a since-deleted message, the hacker responsible for the the photos promised more explicit images will be posted in the days to come.
An outspoken advocate for feminist causes, Watson says she was threatened with a nude photo “leak” after giving a speech at the UN shortly after the 2014 data breach.
A rep for the actress has confirmed that the photos of Watson posted last night are legitimate:
“Photos from a clothes fitting Emma had with a stylist a couple of years ago have been stolen,” Watson’s spokesperson said in a statement released today.
“They are not nude photographs. Lawyers have been instructed and we are not commenting further.”
Seyfried and Jillian Murray – a Code Black actress who’s currently believed to be the only other victim of the hack – have not yet commented on the situation.
According to Buzzfeed the photos of Seyfried and Murray are “much more explicit” than the photos of Watson, reportedly showing the actresses fully nude and, in some cases, engaged in sexual activity.
Watson began speaking out against such appalling violations of privacy during the original “Fappening,” tweeting:
“Even worse than seeing women’s privacy violated on social media is reading the accompanying comments that show such a lack of empathy.”
The hacker responsible for the 2014 theft was eventually caught and arrested, and is currently awaiting trial.
There’s no word yet on what sort of action authorities are taking this time around.
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.
